News from around the World- EME News (Feb 7, 2018)

PARIS (FRA, Feb 7): World champion Luvo Manyonga achieved in the penultimate jump of the day at Paris Bercy Indoor meet new national indoor record and World lead 832 cm. He missed the African indoor record only by 4 cm. Already in the qualification (first three rounds) he leaped to impressive 823. In the final he beat Jean-Pierre Bertrand (754, 776 in qualification). Greek Miltiadis Tentoglou won the fight for 3rd place with 787 (earlier 789) over Andreas Otterling (750, earlier 774). Another London World champion Katerina Stefanidi dominated pole vault with 481 and tried for 491 WL. Second her country mate Nikoleta Kyriakopoulou 461. Third London winner Kevin Mayer clearly won a special triathlon with 2814 points (15.96 shot put, 748 long jump and 7.79 PB in the hurdles). World medalist Marie-Josee Ta Lou from Ivory Coast beat a loaded women 60 m final in 7.12 over Jamaican Remona Burchell 7.14 and Swiss record holder Mujinga Kambundji 7.15 with second fastest on paper Tatjana Pinto after bad start only 6th in 7.26. Gue-Arthur Cisse registered for Ivory Coast also men 60 m win in 6.61 ahead of European U23 100 m champion Ojie Edoborun 6.63 and home star Christophe Lemaitre 6.66. Jimmy Vicaut after winning his heat in 6.64 did not run the final due to right adductor injury. US Jarred Eaton was men hurdles winner in good 7.62 over Canadian Johnathan Cabral 7.68 and close finish for women win by Ukrainian Hanna Plotitsyna and Hungarian European U23 bronze winner last year Luca Kozak, both 8.16.

Dibaba for another fast 1500, Maslak vs Husillos

MADRID (ESP): 3rd IAAF World Indoor Tour continues in high speed. Meeting Madrid will be the third stop on Thursday. Genzebe Dibaba will again try for fast 1500 m time, Mariya Lasitskene is the high jump favorite as is fresh Czech Indoor record holder Tomas Stanek in shot put. Also middle distances with big depth, but also sprinting interest for the home public with Yunier Perez and Oscar Husillos facing top opponents. From tour events not staged men 3000 m and women´s 60 m hurdles and long jump.

Event by event preview

Men

60m: Yunier Perez and Mike Rodgers were second and third in Dusseldorf, both clocking 6.52 behind China’s Su Bingtian. Former world indoor champion Richard Kilty also competes.

400m (non Tour event): Pavel Maslak will contest his first 400m race of the indoor season. Also watch out for Oscar Husillos who recently broke the Spanish 300m record. Also Janezic is in shape.

800m: Fresh from victory in Dusseldorf, Adam Kszczot faces former world champion Mohamed Aman and in-form Spaniard Alvaro de Arriba who clocked a European-leading 1:45.43 at the weekend.

1500m (non Tour event): Dusseldorf winner Vincent Kibet faces among others in deep field also former world indoor champion Ayanleh Souleiman from Djibouti.

Pole vault: Piotr Lisek will be aiming for back-to-back wins after winning in Dusseldorf. Former world champions Pawel Wojciechowski and Kostadinos Filippidis also compete.

Triple jump: Pedro Pablo Picardo faces former world and Olympic champion and now Portuguese compatriot Nelson Evora. It is for first time staged within the tour this year.

1500m: How fast will Genzebe Dibaba run after a 3:57.45 world-lead in Karlsruhe? Konstanze Klosterhalfen also competes after a 4:04.00 season’s opener in Karlsruhe and wants to attack the German record of 4:03.64.

3000m (non Tour event): Sweden’s Meraf Bahta could take a rare European win but Fantu Worku and Meskerem Mamo posted fast times in January in Ostrava.

High jump: Mariya Lasitskene cleared 2.02m in Banska Bystrica for her 33rd successive win and is fully expected to extend her win streak. Mirela Demireva is in good form with a recent 1.95m clearance.

Triple jump (non Tour event): Greece’s Paraskevi Papahristou could be challenged by Spanish youngster Ana Peleteiro on home soil. Also in shape this year Prokopenko (ANA) and Romanian Panturoiu.

OTHER NEWS

MADRID (ESP): There will be a tribute to the recently retired European and Olympic high jump champion Ruth Beitia at the Madrid Indoor Meeting tomorrow evening. “I’m really proud to receive this acknowledgement by the Spanish Federation at such an important occasion like the IAAF World Indoor Tour stop in Madrid where my event will be one of the main attractions,” she said.

NAIROBI (KEN): World 5000m champion Hellen Obiri will compete in this weekend’s Kenyan cross-country championships but miss the African championships, Xinhua reports. “It is down to my preparations for World Indoor Championships,” she said. “I want to represent my unit, Kenya Defense Force, but also use it as part of my endurance training. I will not be going to Algeria for the Africa Cross Country Championships, even if I finish top here.”

NAIROBI (KEN): World and Olympic 10,000m fourth-placer Alice Aprot will be looking to defend her Kenyan cross-country title on Saturday. “I will be glad to defend my title. At the moment I am nursing a knee injury. But I hope it will heal before the trials on Saturday,” she told The Standard.

ATHLONE (IRL): World high jump champion Mutaz Essa Barshim will compete at the AIT Grand Prix in Athlone on February 21. Irish Olympian Thomas Barr will also take part, while former world pole vault champion Shawn Barber was previously announced.

ROUEN (GER): German pole vaulter Lisa Ryzih will open her season in Rouen on 10 February, informs Leichtathletik.de. The only other competitions on her itinerary this winter are the German Indoor Championships in Dortmund and the World Indoor Championships in Birmingham.

CHEMNITZ (GER): European triple jump champion Max Hess will make his first appearance in the triple jump this season in Chemnitz on 10 February, informs Leichtathletik.de. "Everything over 17.20 meters would satisfy me very well in this competition,” he said. Hess will also compete in Torun (15 Feb) and the German Indoor Championships ahead of the World Indoor Championships in Birmingham.

ERFURT (GER): Leading German sprinter Rebekka Haase will compete over 60m in Erfurt on 9 February, informs Leichtathletik.de.

MOGILYEV (BLR): Alina Talay has confirmed she will compete in the 60m hurdles at the Belarusian Indoor Championships in Mogilyev on 17 February.

JOHANNESBURG (RSA): Former world 200m bronze medallist Anaso Jobodwana will headline the Athletix Grand Prix Meeting in Johannesburg on March 1, supersport.com reports. The 19.84 200m runner will compete over the half-lap but in announcing his participation said he was keen to break 10 seconds over 100m this year. He said: “I know that when I break the 10sec mark, I will easily be able to beat my 200m best and reclaim the national record (19.84 by Wayde van Niekerk). Running the 200m at the first Athletix Grand Prix Meeting fits in perfectly with my plans to get back into the shape where I am running fast again and feel comfortable doing it.”

NAIROBI (KEN): Kenya’s 2012 Olympic bronze medallist Wilson Kipsang is hoping to regain his world record when he defends his title at the Tokyo Marathon. The winner last year in 2:03:58 told Xinhua news agency he is looking to continue his form on after placing runner-up in New York in November: “I surprised everyone during the final steps and almost won the New York Marathon in November last year. Well, this year I will just go ahead and do it in Tokyo.” His main opposition as he attacks the world mark of 2:02:57 will be Ethiopia’s Tesfaye Abera and Feyisa Lilesa, plus Kenyan Dickson Chumba. On the women’s side, Helah Kiprop, Purity Rionoripo and Meseret Defar are among the elite.

LONDON (GBR): British 400m runner Nigel Levine has been suspended as UK Athletics confirmed his earlier reported anti-doping violation. He will receive the right to respond to the charge. Levine tested positive for the banned substance clenbuterol in December.

SYDNEY (AUS): Australian distance runner Cassie Fien has received a nine-month ban after testing positive for the banned substance Higenamine, ESPN reports. The 2:33 marathoner, who has competed at the World Half-marathon Championships three times, tested positive out of competition in April 2017. As the ban was backdated, it will end on May 9 2018. The Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority, saying the substance is increasingly found in dietary supplements, added in a statement: “Although athletes are solely responsible for all substances in their bodies, Ms. Fien's sanction was reduced to nine months on the basis of her degree of fault and the fact that the supplement, `Liporush', was a contaminated product.”

COPENHAGEN (DEN): Denmark will host the European Athletics Endurance Coaching Summit on November 24-25, the country’s federation announced.

RIGA (LAT): European Athletics president Svein Arne Hansen met with Riga mayor Nils Usakovs and Latvia federation head Ineta Radevica and general secretary Dmitrijs Milkevics, plus Estonian Athletics Federation chief Erich Teigamagi on Wednesday. The president discussed plans for the sport in the capital and visited the 1966-built indoor athletics hall. "I am very encouraged by the plans and ideas I have been presented by Riga, and by the Latvian Federation's proactive approach to developing the sport of athletics in the region," he said.

MOSCOW (RUS): Russian runners Yelena Korobkina and Danila Tundykov have both submitted applications to the IAAF for permission to compete as neutral competitors in international competitions, informs R-Sport referring to the RusAF press attaché Natalia Yukhareva.

MOSCOW (RUS): The Russian Athletics Federation sent an official letter to the IAAF requesting to speed up the consideration of applications for participation in international competitions as ANA for those Russian athletes, who fulfilled the Birmingham standards. The list includes pole vaulter Timur Morgunov, hurdler Konstantin Shabanov, long jumper Alexander Menkov, shot putter Maxim Afonin, sprinter Kristina Sivkova, triple jumpers Artem Primak and Anna Krylova nad middle distance runner Alexandra Gulyaeva. The letter clarifies that the process of obtaining the UK visa takes a long time.

POMBAL (POR): Expocentro of Pombal will be the site of Portugal indoor Championships this weekend. So far six athletes have the standard for World Indoors in Birmingham. Four men: David Lima for 60 m, legendary Nelson Evora for triple jump and shot putters Tsanko Arnaudov with Francisco Belo. Both women are triple jumpers Patricia Mamona with Susana Costa.

RESULTS

LEE VALLEY (GBR, Feb 7): Great sprinting by CJ Ujah. He won the 60 m here with 6.53. The relay World champion equaled so his personal best from 2015. Imani Lansiquot won women 60 m in 7.26.

BRNO (CZE, Feb 7): Asian Indoor champion Nadiya Dusanova from Uzbekistan improved after early morning drive from Banska Bystrica to Brno her season best to 192 and won the "Brnenska latka" special high jump meeting. The 23rd edition in one of shopping centres here had only women international competition. Second was Marija Vukovic of Montenegro with 190 what is new national indoor record for her country. Third Czech Lada Pejchalova cleared 186 over Italian Erika Furlani 183.